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Cafébabel’s editorial project exploring Poland’s borders

What’s going on in Poland? Many young Europeans are asking themselves this question. When we think about Poland in 2018, we think of controversial reforms and right-wing politics. With The Borderline Project, Cafébabel decided to cover the country and its margins from a fresh perspective.

Poland has made many headlines over the past years and most of them weren’t positive. Whether it’s about banning abortions, controversial judicial and media reforms, ecological sanctions or restrictive refugee policies, it’s clear that ever since Poland has been led by a right-wing, conservative government, the country is being eyed suspiciously by its European neighbours.

Many young Europeans find the shift to the right in Poland a little borderline. It’s a country that tends to evoke nothing more than a handful of clichés: the prevalence of Catholicism, hard liquor, backwardness… Does Poland even want to be part of the European community anymore?

Cafébabel’s newest editorial project wants to break with this (recent) one-sided view of Poland. 100 years after Poland restored its independence, sixteen young Europeans headed to the country to report on Polish youth, their visions of the future and their relationship to the country’s past. Through eight multimedia features, the cross-border teams explored Poland’s border cities and their relationship to neighbouring regions. Because at the end of the day, stories don’t end at borders.

The Borderline Project portrays parts and people of Poland that are often rendered invisible; their everyday lives, commitments, their initiatives and hopes, but also their worries and fears. The project was created to shed light on the (g)local problems they are faced with, but also show just how similar the lives of young people in different European countries can be, regardless of location.

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DISCLAIMER

The Borderline Project is produced by Cafébabel, the European magazine
http://www.cafebabel.com

The website is published by Babel Deutschland e.V.
Babel Deutschland e.V. is a non-for-profit association, registered at the Amtsgericht of Berlin-Charlottenburg.
Registry number: UR 194/2014